This invention relates to improvements in tire tools and, more particularly, to a tire tool for facilitating the removal of a tire from a wheel rim.
The removal of tires on wheel rims is a difficult and time consuming operation, particularly the removal of large diameter tires, such as found on large highway and off-highway vehicles. The usual passenger automobile tire is sufficiently small and light weight as to permit manually positioning thereof at an elevation above the normal floor or ground level and on a substantially horizontally disposed machine having a tool mounted thereon which may be utilized for breaking the seal between the tire and wheel rim. Once the seal has been broken between the bead of the tire and the wheel rim, the tool may be manually moved around the outer periphery of the tire bead for separating the tire from the wheel rim, and the application of a suitable manual pressure against the loosened tire permits the removal of the tire from the wheel rim. Large truck tires, and the like, however, are heavy and unwieldy and, as a rule, cannot be manipulated in this manner. The disadvantages will be readily apparent.
Many tools have been developed for facilitating the removal of tires from the associated wheel rims, such as the Threlfall Pat. No. 786,611; the Hussey Pat. No. 834,908; the Dickey et al. Pat. No. 1,587,634; the Wendelken Pat. No. 2,615,507; the Schulta et al. Pat. No. 3,029,860; and the McKinney Pat. No. 3,104,695. These tire tools, however, ride around the periphery of the tire and wheel rim and have not been found to be efficient or effective for the removal of the large tires in widespread use today.
In order to overcome these disadvantages, the tire tool shown in this application was developed whereby tires may be readily removed from the associated wheel rim with ease and in a matter of minutes. The small size of the present tire tool is advantageous over the heavy and cumbersome tire tools on the market. Another advantage is that the new tire tool is portable and can be adapted for use in any situation. As is readily apparent, the present tire tool has these and other advantages which will be described in the following sections.
The tire tool of the present invention is used to facilitate the removal of a tire from the wheel rim. The tire tool is adapted for use with rims that have a plurality of stud holes spaced outwardly from the center of the rim. The tire tool comprises a main body portion which has two bores at opposite ends of the main body portion. Secured to the first bore of the main body portion is a means for driving the first end of the main body portion in a downward direction. The driving means rests on the tire. Secured to the second bore of the main body portion is a means for releasably engaging the main body portion to one of the plurality of stud holes of the rim. After the tire tool is positioned on the tire and secured to the wheel rim, the driving means of the tire tool on the first end of the main body portion causes the tire bead to break from the rim of the wheel in a safe and efficient manner.
It is desired that the two bores of the main body portion be threaded bores. It is further desired that the main body portion be substantially planar, that the driving means be the combination of a first threaded bolt secured to a wheel socket, and that the engaging means be a second threaded bolt secured to a wing nut. The main body portion should be sized so that when the engaging means engages one of the stud holes of the rim, the driving means rests on the tire bead proximate the outer periphery of the wheel rim. The first threaded bolt may preferably have a horizontal extending threaded aperture near the bottom end thereof for removably securing a screw. This screw will prevent the first threaded bolt from moving downward so as to pierce the wheel socket and/or the tire. Thus, it is required that the screw, when removably secured to the horizontally extending threaded aperture of the first threaded bolt, be of a length greater than the length of the horizontally extending aperture. It is also desired that the first threaded bolt have a horizontal groove located below the horizontally extending threaded aperture.
The wheel socket is preferably adapted to rest on the inner periphery of the tire proximate the outer periphery of the wheel rim. As such, the first threaded bolt is removably secured to the wheel socket by way of being inserted into a vertically protruding hole in the wheel socket. The wheel socket should also have two opposing horizontally extending holes proximate the vertically protruding hole. A thrust ball bearing is first inserted into the vertically protruding hole of the wheel socket. Then, a pair of steel balls are inserted into the horizontally extending holes of the wheel socket, so as to contact the horizontal groove of the inserted first threaded bolt. Thereafter, a pair of screws is inserted into the horizontally extending holes of the wheel socket adjacent to the pair of steel balls.
A second threaded bolt is preferably first inserted vertically upward through a radially spaced stud hole of the rim before being inserted into the second threaded bore of the main body portion. To better secure the second threaded bolt to the main body portion, a wing nut can be removably secured to the second threaded bolt from above the main body portion at the location where the second threaded bolt extends upward from the second threaded bore of the main body portion. It is most preferred that, to prevent the loss or separation of the second threaded bolt from the main body portion when the second threaded bolt is not removably secured to the second threaded bore of the main body portion, a wire cable be adapted to permanently fasten the second threaded bolt to the main body portion.
The tire tool greatly facilitates the removal of the tire from the rim because it is small in size, is not cumbersome to use and is highly portable for use at any location. Thus, the tire tool of the present invention has numerous advantages over prior tire tools used for similar purposes.